SANTA CLARA — In a suburban city whose politics sometimes seem driven by the NFL team that planted its red-and-gold flag here with a $1.3 billion stadium, Lisa Gillmor appeared to be little more than a speed bump in the San Francisco 49ers’ path.

Like fans for the road team at Levi’s Stadium, she and two other women on the seven-member council willing to take on the powerful but sharp-elbowed NFL team were regularly drowned out by a voting majority cheering on the Niners.

But in a strange bloodless coup no one would have predicted weeks ago, Gillmor now sits in the mayor’s seat, unanimously appointed by the very colleagues she had fought with on the fractious council over the 49ers’ perceived broken promises to soccer kids who play near the stadium. The city’s top political job came open with the surprise resignation of Mayor Jamie Matthews earlier this month.

“I never saw myself standing here today,” said Gillmor, 55, outside Levi’s, recalling how she’d given up on ever being mayor after losing a run for the office in 1994.

Now, Gillmor is facing a bigger challenge — repairing the acrimonious relationship with the powerful team she took on.

“It’s not productive for us to go backwards,” said Gillmor, a real estate broker. “We’re going to have to move ahead optimistically and cautiously. We’re going to have to trust each other and forge new relationships.”

Team officials say they’re ready to do their part.

“We enjoyed working closely with Mayor Gillmor to make Levi’s Stadium a reality during her tenure as a council member, and look forward to continuing to work with her on stadium-related matters,” said Bob Lange, the 49ers’ vice president of communications.

Gillmor’s ascent followed the equally extraordinary exit of her former nemesis and predecessor, Matthews. A day after the city successfully hosted Super Bowl 50, he stunned his colleagues by announcing his resignation with two years left in his term. Even Matthews, who friends say grew weary of the council infighting, had praise for Gillmor.

“Lisa was an excellent choice,” Matthews texted, “and will do a wonderful job.”

Gillmor wasn’t always at odds with the 49ers. A decade ago, she led a vigorous effort to bring the team fully to her city, where it has been headquartered. She knocked on doors, hosted coffee events in her living room and appeared on countless television screens supporting Levi’s Stadium.

It was a “broken promise,” Gillmor said, from 49ers owner Jed York to the Santa Clara youth soccer community that left Gillmor — a soccer mom herself — disillusioned.

Santa Clara’s youth soccer leagues play in a city-owned soccer park next to the stadium, and Gillmor says York promised new fields to the kids after the stadium was built but failed to deliver. Team officials say that “promise” was merely a commitment to refurbish existing fields only if the team could use the soccer park on game days.

But the dispute hit home for Gillmor — two of her three kids played soccer, and her husband is a part-time coach.

“I put my name on the line for the stadium, and the Niners didn’t keep their promise to the soccer community,” Gillmor said Friday while standing near the fields. “I knew firsthand of all the commitments that were made. So when they say, ‘We didn’t say that’ — I was there.”

Gillmor, who was appointed to the council in 2011 then elected in 2012, spent the next few years fighting the team and going head to head with her colleagues over the Niners’ contracts and demanding the discussions happen in public.

Before Gillmor can hit the reset button, there remain several issues to resolve — a soccer league lawsuit over the NFL using its park for Super Bowl 50, an audit to ensure no city funds support the stadium, and the Niners’ request to reduce their rent, as allowed one time by its contract.

A Santa Clara native, Gillmor graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in political science and Spanish, and aimed to be a bilingual criminal attorney before a stint at Gillmor & Associates, the real estate firm of her father (and former mayor), Gary, led her down a different path. She now operates the firm, which employs eight people. She served on the City Council from 1992 to 2000 and ran for mayor in the mid-1990s, losing by about 1,000 votes.

“I had given up on the idea,” Gillmor said.

The council unanimously appointed Gillmor to complete Matthews’ term last week.

Gillmor says she’ll set herself apart from her predecessor by making City Hall a friendlier, more accessible place. On her to-do list: hold outreach meetings about development projects, increase the public comment time from two minutes to three, discuss more items in open session, hire a legislative analyst and post meeting agendas a week or more before the meeting.

Even one of her council rivals, Dominic Caserta, was convinced she’d be a good bet to move the city forward.

“I really believe this is an opportunity for us to come together, and I believe (Lisa) can lead us in doing that,” Caserta said. “That doesn’t mean we’ll always agree, but civility is something I look forward to.”

Name: Lisa GillmorBorn: Mar. 3, 1960Political party: DemocratEducation: De Anza College and University of Southern CaliforniaOccupation: Real estate broker and owner of Gillmor & AssociatesFamily: Husband and three kids — Kyle, 19; Chloe, 16; and Zachary, 12Hobbies: Working out and spending time with friends

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